Capital expenditure and financing: provisional outturn (2018-2019) and budget estimates (2019-2020)
This publication contains the 2018-2019 provisional outturn and 2019-2020 budget estimates for local authority capital expenditure, financing and prudential indicators on local authority external debt and the capital financing requirement.
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2018-19 Provisional Outturn
All local authorities were asked to provide provisional outturn capital expenditure figures on an unaudited basis before their accounts were compiled. As such, these figures are subject to revision in the final audited accounts and small changes over time should be interpreted with caution.
Scotland's local authorities provisional outturn for capital expenditure is £2,884 million. This is a decrease of £18 million (-0.6%) compared with 2017-18 provisional outturn. Local authorities had budgeted to spend £3,475 million on capital expenditure in 2018-19 which means they have underspent by £590 million.
Housing Revenue Account (HRA), Education and Roads & Transport account for just over three-fifths (62%) of total capital expenditure in 2018-19. Table 1 shows the full breakdown of capital expenditure by service.
Table 1: Provisional Outturn 2018-19 by Service, £ millions
| Service | Provisional Outturn 2018-19 | % of total capital expenditure | Change from Prov.Outturn 2017-18 | % change from Prov. Outturn 2017-18 | Change from Budget Estimate 2018-19 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Housing Revenue Account (HRA) | 738 | 26% | 47 | 6.8% | -137 |
| Education | 578 | 20% | -191 | -24.8% | -100 |
| Roads & Transport | 484 | 17% | 27 | 5.8% | -72 |
| Planning & Development | 338 | 12% | 71 | 26.7% | -53 |
| Culture & Related Services | 148 | 5% | -21 | -12.7% | -43 |
| Environmental Services | 114 | 4% | 25 | 28.8% | -26 |
| All other expenditure[1] | 485 | 17% | 24 | 5.2% | -160 |
| Total Capital Expenditure | 2,884 | 100% | -18 | -0.6% | -590 |
As shown in Table 2, local authorities expect to finance almost two-fifths (38%) of this expenditure by borrowing, and just over one-third (36%) using Scottish Government Grants. The remaining expenditure will be financed by a combination of other grants, capital receipts, capital fund and current revenue.
Table 2: Financing of capital expenditure in 2018-19, £ millions
| Source of financing | Amount of financing | % of total capital expenditure financed |
|---|---|---|
| Borrowing | 1,093 | 38% |
| Scottish Government Grants | 1,032 | 36% |
| Other Grants | 179 | 6% |
| All other financing [2] | 580 | 20% |
| Total Capital Financing | 2,884 | 100% |
Scottish local authorities reported that their Capital Financing Requirement (CFR) is expected to increase by £530 million (+3.0%), from £17,646 million on 1 April 2018 to £18,176 million on 31 March 2019. Total External Debt is expected to increase by £1,471 million (+9.3%) during 2018-19, from £15,783 million on 1 April 2018 to £17,254 million on 31 March 2019.
Total External Debt is 95 per cent of the CFR which means that local authorities are under-borrowed, see Figure 1. This indicates their treasury policy is to utilise cash reserves to fund borrowing at this time. Should their cash requirements increase, a local authority can borrow externally to meet that need, utilising their under-borrowed position.
Contact
Email: lgfstats@gov.scot
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